


Flicker

by cafephan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Drabble, Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 06:12:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9422042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafephan/pseuds/cafephan
Summary: During a sleepless night, Dan and Phil discuss the (near) future.





	

The city is sleeping.

Dull lamplight pans across the bare streets, the lights in every flat window he can see are turned off, most ghosted over by curtains. The world outside is still, yet his mind is racing.

Dan is often awake at this time of night, though rarely without a laptop or some form of screen in front of him. He’s sat at the window, looking out into the night, in a state of contemplation people would pay hundreds for.

Casting his mind over the past five years he’s spent in the place cause his lips to curl slightly upwards, and his fingers find the bottom of his shirt and begin to gently tug absentmindedly. He watches as a plane glides across the sky, and silently wishes all those aboard a safe journey.

It catches him off-guard when a steaming mug of hot chocolate is held in front of him, though he accepts it gratefully.

“I didn’t even hear you” he says, and Phil chuckles as he pulls up a chair beside him.

“You never do when you get like this.”

“Like this?”

Phil smiles. “Contemplative. Deep thinking. Other words and phrases with the same effect.”

Dan takes a sip of his drink. He does get in this state of mind a lot, he likes to think about the future. Especially since it’s now wide open for them to grasp and shape as they please.

“You can’t sleep either?” he asks quietly, and he watches as Phil takes a sip of his coffee.

He smiles as a drop trickles down Phil’s chin from his lips, and laughs as Phil blushes and hastily wipes it away.

“I had a nap this afternoon so I’m pretty much set.”

“I told you not to nap in the day anymore or this would happen” Dan remembers his past self saying those exact words earlier in the day.

Phil shrugs. “I’m not exactly complaining.”

Dan feels the heat rush to his cheeks.

They both drink as they listen to a motorbike speed into the distance. Dan knows he’ll never miss it.

“I finished editing the gaming video today, by the way” he says, and Phil turns to him.

“Tough job?”

“Not really. Once I edited out the literal three minutes of you ranting about how these games are always rigged against you, I was pretty much all set.”

“But they are!” Phil protests, “It’s like some force in the universe just never wants me to win!”

“You won me, back in the day” Dan retorts, and Phil smiles down into his mug.

“Yeah, I’m still waiting for the refund on that one.”

Dan reaches to lightly punch him in the shoulder. Phil leans to the side to dodge, but results in nearly falling off his chair.

It’s just how it’s always been. Easy, effortless.

Fifteen minutes later, the bulb in the lamppost closest to them flickers, plunging the flat into momentary darkness.

“The lease runs out in the summer.” Phil reminds him.

“It only seems two minutes since we were buying the damn place” Dan shakes his head and laughs to himself. Five years seemed so short yet so long at the same time.

He spares a thought to that possibly being because of the company he’d shared it with. That’s what it had been at the flat before, he’d deduced it once they’d moved.

A layer of silence falls over them, and Dan wonders whether Phil’s mind is in the same place as his own.

“I like the third one we looked at” Phil says softly, and Dan turns to face him. He’s smiling.

“Yeah?”

Phil nods. “It’s everything we need and then some. And it’s well within our price range.”

“We could finally have a proper games room.”

Phil’s grin grows to match Dan’s. “We could.”

“We could finally have a place to put all the miscellaneous crap lounging around in the hallways.”

“We could.”

“We could finally have a-“

The words hang in the air, they both know the end to the sentence. It’s something they discuss often, whether in passing or otherwise.

Phil’s hand finds Dan’s.

“We will.”

Dan feels a warmth spread through his body, which didn’t come from the blanket that Phil draped across both of their laps as he sat down.

“I’ll call them in the morning” Phil whispers, his voice almost a hum.

“We’re finally going to do this?” Dan asks, feeling a flutter in his chest.

Phil squeezes his hand. “Sure seems like it.”

Silence falls over them again, and Phil takes to running the pad of his thumb over the back of Dan’s hand.

“We deserve this” he voices his thoughts.

“Of course we do,” Phil replies, “A year for us, remember? We’ve earned it and we’ve earned, you know…”

He trails off as he stares out of the window, and Dan follows suit. He knows exactly what the end of the sentence is. And he agrees wholeheartedly.

“Eight years” Phil breaks the silence, and Dan turns his head to face him. “Think we’ll make it to double digits?”

Dan can’t help but laugh, and Phil shares it. It wouldn’t be funny to anyone else.

“You know, I have a sneaking suspicion we just might.”

The bulb burns out an hour or so later. They’re fast asleep, Dan leaning on Phil’s shoulder, Phil’s head resting on Dan’s.

The city is at peace, and so is Dan.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: cafephan  
> Twitter: bloggerhowell


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